Protect and Destroy
by loveandmagic9913
Summary: What happens if Jackie gets hurt? What would Hyde do to protect her?


_Protect and Destroy_

-after the 8th season of That 70s Show-

Chapter 1 : Welcome to the 80s

-JACKIE-

Jackie Burkhart lay in her bed, unable to sleep peacefully. She tossed and turned, and the few times that she actually fell asleep, she woke up from nightmares. Her mind was on how her life had went downhill in the last few months. First she went to Chicago for a job because Hyde, her boyfriend and the love of her life, couldn't make a commitment to her. Then he came to Chicago to tell her he wanted to be with her, but he caught her and Kelso, her first ex-boyfriend, in a complicated situation that looked worse than it actually was and before she could explain, he took off to Las Vegas. She left Chicago to go after him and fix what happened, and before they could finish talking a woman, whom worked as a stripper in Las Vegas, came in claiming to be his wife. He chose to let her stay around and they insulted Jackie everyday and made her life miserable. Soon afterward, Sam, the stripper, revealled she wasn't actually married to Hyde and went back to her real husband, but the damage was already done. Jackie believed that Hyde didn't love her or want to be with her and Hyde believed the same of her. Finally fed up, Jackie settled for Fez, but that relationship didn't last either. They broke up mutually only a few days after New Years because they realized they couldn't work out. Jackie was still madly in love with Hyde, and Fez being new to the dating world wanted to experience more before he settled down. She briefly shared an apartment with Fez, but she moved back in with Donna after the couple broke up. She was beginning to believe that she'd always live there and never have the life she wanted. Jackie decided she should just give up. Her life was hopeless; she'd never be happy.

After a short while longer of not being able to sleep, Jackie got out of bed and pulled a brown fur trimmed coat on over her yellow multi-colored polka-dot shorts and white tank top. She slipped her feet into a pair of white slippers and snuck out of the house, careful not to wake Donna or Bob. It was cold outside and the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow. More snow began to flitter down from the sky as Jackie began to walk down the sidewalk. She wasn't sure where she'd go, but she just felt like she needed to clear her head. It was around four in the morning so The Hub was closed and pretty much everyone was asleep. She decided that she had to stay away from Grooves in case Hyde was there late like he was many nights. That left the water tower and Mount Hump. Mount Hump was where she had her first date with Hyde so she figured that'd bring up too many bad memories, so she settled on the water tower. Jackie looked down at her outfit and realized if anyone saw her she might get stopped and taken back to the Pinciotti's so she walked through the woods without haste.

Jackie came to the water tower after half an hour. She didn't care if there were leaves in her hair or any dirt was on her clothes. She knew that she had to be covered in snow, and even though she was shivering, it didn't bother her. As Jackie started climbing the ladder she realized she wasn't alone. Someone else was already sitting on top of the water tower, looking down at her. It was the same skinny twig of a boy who recently came back from Africa.

"Hey Eric." Jackie greeted him as she sat next to him, letting her feet dangle over the sides like his.

"Hi Jackie." He didn't seem to mind her being there though the two used to hate each other.

"What are you doing up here?" She questioned.

"Couldn't sleep. I'm still used to the different time zone in Africa." He sighed.

"Something tells me that's not all of it." Jackie glanced at him from the side of her eyes.

"Well it just seems like everything has changed since I left. Everything is messed up. Donna changed and started treating you, her best friend, like crap. Kelso grew up and is the most responsible person ever, living in Chicago to take care of his daughter. You and Hyde aren't together anymore and you're both depressed all the time. Hyde is barely even paying attention to his work in the record store some days, and other days that's all he pays attention too much. You've completely lost that whole happy-Jackie attitude. Hell the only one who hasn't changed is Fez. He's still the same perverted candy lover that he always was." Eric explained.

Jackie let out a sad laugh. "Yeah. I know what you mean. Even you changed. Your not as much up a skinny lollipop anymore."

Eric laughed. "Yeah. So why are you up here?"

Jackie let out a cold breath and watched the steam wisp away with a frosty breeze. "Same as you. Couldn't sleep. Thinking about how everything has fallen apart."

"Anything in particular?" Eric asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, everything between me and Steven."

"I see."

"Yeah. I mean even after everything we went through. After he cheated on me with that nurse and refused to take me back after I realized I wanted to be with him, after he wouldn't give me any confirmation on if we had a future together, and then after he did the same thing again and came after me only to find Michael being stupid, and he left without even letting me explain and ran off to Vegas and married a stripper and kept her around and was always mean to me. How is it that after all that I still love him and would jump at the chance to be with him? It's not logical!" Jackie told him.

He frowned. "Love isn't logical. It's not something that can be explained or measured. It can only be tested. Sometimes the love is so strong it stands up against the tests, other times it falters and builds and becomes stronger over time, and then there are times that love isn't strong enough to withstand any tests at all. The fact that you still love him shows me that your love is getting stronger over time, and as long as he still feels the same than you'll get past it."

"Well how do I know if he still feels the same? He doesn't talk about his feelings. He just keeps it all bottled up." She argued.

"I don't know if I can answer that. All I can say is that hopefully if it comes down to it, he'll finally say something about it. But for now it's unfair for you to dwell on something and always be unhappy over something he's not ready for. There's no reason for you not to have fun and be happy while you're waiting for him to be ready and come around."

Jackie nodded and smiled. "How did you get so smart?"

"A year in Africa makes you grow up pretty fast." Eric joked.

"Yeah I guess it does." Her sad smile returned. "But how do I have fun? I don't know if I can."

"Well there's that new club in Kenosha right?" Eric asked.

Jackie nodded. "Yeah, Donna wants to go."

"Okay we should get the gang together and go to the club for a night of dancing and fun." Eric suggested.

"Okay, are we gonna invite Steven? And what about Michael, he's still living in Chicago."

"Don't worry about it, let me handle everyone." Eric reassured her.

"Fine." She finally relenqueshed her control. "Why are you being nice to me now?"

"Jackie, lets face it, we've both grown since we first met. We're not the same people anymore and we've both grown. There's no reason for us to still not get along. Even if you are an overbearing pain sometimes." Eric smiled.

"Yeah I guess I can be friends with a Star Wars twig." Jackie returned the smile.

Both laughed and began reminising about their younger days.

-HYDE-

"Hyde. Hyde. Wake up, Hyde." Donna gently shook Steven Hyde awake.

"What? What is it?" Hyde sat up quickly looking around, trying to shake a dream of Jackie from his head. He couldn't recall any of what happened, only that she was in the dream.

"Do you know where Jackie is?" Donna asked.

"What?" He accidently shouted. "No, why would I?"

"I don't know, I just woke up and she was gone. Her bed is a mess and her favorite coat and slippers are gone too. You were just the first person that came to my mind. So I came to see if you knew where she was." Donna explained.

"No I haven't seen her." He climbed out of bed. "Let's go wake Forman and we'll go look for her."

Hyde didn't want to admit it, but he was secretly worried about her. He couldn't live with himself if anything happened to her. Donna waited in the basement while Hyde got dressed and went up to Eric's room. When Hyde returned to the basement he was practically running.

"Eric's not here either!" He declared.

"What? If those two are doing anything I will kill that little popsicle and spoiled brat!" Donna exclaimed.

"Donna relax. This is Jackie and Forman we're talking about. They would never be doing anything like that." Hyde resisted the urge to burst into laughter.

"We thought the same thing about you and Jackie and look what happened! You're still so madly in love with her you practically fell out of bed as soon as I said she was missing! She has like some brain washing power over men!" Donna shouted.

Hyde was stunned at Donna's words. "I'm not still in love with her! I was never in love with her!"

"Deny it all you want to, but I saw the look in your eyes when I told you what was going on! You're so in love with her you don't even have the energy to join in any more circles!" She yelled. "You even forgot your glasses so I can see it now how much you love her!"

"Whatever. We don't have time for this. We need to go find them." Hyde pushed past Donna and outside in the cold air.

Donna wasn't far behind him as they headed in the direction of Mount Hump.

"Where are we going?" Donna asked from a few feet behind him.

"Mount Hump." Hyde replied not bothering to slow down so she could catch up to him.

"What? Why? Why are we going to Mount Hump?"

"Because that's where we went for our first date on Veteran's Day, well that and The Hub, but since The Hub is closed I figure Mount Hump is our best bet." Hyde replied with a little annoyance in his voice.

"You really think Eric and Jackie would go to Mount Hump together?" Donna shouted trying to run to catch up to him.

"No, I really don't think they're together. They are the last people to hangout together. And in case you didn't realize, currently I'm not worried about that Twizzler right now anyways. I'm only worried about Jackie so I'm looking for her, not Eric." Hyde proclaimed.

"But think about it Hyde they're_." Donna started.

"Donna! Just shut up! You're getting on my nerves and nothing you say is going to affect where I'm going to look! If you want to, you can go look somewhere else! But I'm going to look at Mount Hump first and if she's not there than I will look somewhere else, like the water tower or Grooves!" He yelled.

"The water tower . . . Paris." She muttered.

"What?" He stared at her like she was insane.

"Think about it Hyde, where did Jackie always want to go?" Hyde just stared at her. "Paris! So where would she run away to?"

"Paris?" He looked so lost.

"No! The water tower! Damn you, Hyde! And you think you're so smart! But I understand, love keeps you from thinking logically." Donna started walking in the direction of the water tower.

"I'm not in love!" Hyde shouted after her. He shook his head and huffed before he took off after her.

"Does Jackie still love me?" Hyde asked Donna as they walked toward the water tower.

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're her best friend and you share a room with her!" He spoke in astonishment.

"Well as hard as it may be to believe, we're not as close as we once were. Ever since Sam was here, Jackie and I haven't been getting along all that well. And Jackie keeps to herself most of the time now. You know how you taught her that Zen thing?" She asked.

"Yeah." He nodded, silenced by the mention of his ex-fake-wife.

"Well_." Donna punched him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" He yelled.

"For teaching Jackie how to be Zen! You know how difficult she is naturally, why on earth did you have to teach her something to make her more difficult?" Donna shouted.

He couldn't help but smile, but he stayed silent.

"But if you want to know, I asked Fez why they broke up and he said it was because Jackie was still in love with you." Donna quietly told him.

Hyde nodded.

They came up to the water tower and saw two people sitting up top. From the sound of the laughter they could hear, they knew it was Jackie and Eric. Donna and Hyde climbed the ladder and met Jackie and Eric at the top.

"What are you doing here?" Jackie asked both Donna and Hyde.

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here with my boyfriend you little tramp?" Donna screamed.

"What? I'm not doing anything with Eric. I couldn't sleep so I left. I was going to go to Mount Hump but I came here instead and he was here. We started talking about how everything changed after he went to Africa, well everything except Fez that is. Then we just started talking about old times." Jackie explained.

"And Forman, what were you doing here?" Hyde glared at him.

Eric shot him a confused look. "I couldn't sleep. I'm still on Africa time. So I came here to think."

"Okay. We believe you. But only because the idea of you two being together is really absurd." Donna declared.

Jackie looked back and forth between Donna and Hyde.

"Well we should get you girls home." Hyde spoke up, glancing away so Jackie couldn't look in his eyes.

They all climbed down from the water tower and walked silently to their houses. They paused in the driveway to say good-bye and went to their houses and went to sleep.


End file.
